This invention relates generally to radiation detectors and more particularly to pulsed Geiger-Mueller radiation detectors.
In pulsed radiation detectors having one or more Geiger-Mueller (G-M) tubes, the tube is repetitively driven into its operating region for a predetermined sampling time at a fixed repetition rate. During the time during which the tube is rendered operative, the release of an electron derived from a gamma photon, for example, impinging upon the cathode inside the tube will produce a single G-M pulse. The G-M pulses are used to generate a random pulse train having an average repetition rate which provides a measure of the radiation intensity. Under this mode of operation, the detector response of known prior art apparatus follows the law of probability, i.e. P=1-e.sup.-.lambda.T where .lambda.T is the number of photons detected in a given sampling period. Such a response is non-linear, however, due to the exponential term. It is to this non-linearity that the present invention is directed.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improvement in radiation detectors.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an improvement in Geiger-Mueller radiation detectors.
Still a further object of the present invention is to provide an improvement in pulsed Geiger-Mueller radiation detectors.